Thursday, March 24, 2011
Tug of War!
Before we got a dog, I read about how playing tug of war wasn't good because it makes dogs more aggressive. I don't know how I feel about that. I think tug of war can be a fun game as long as you can put boundaries on it when you're playing. I play tug of war with Oscar once in a while. I keep the games short and if he starts getting really excited, we stop. He has fun, and doesn't seem to get aggressive after playing. It's good, clean fun for us!
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5 comments:
Playing tug-o-war will NOT make us aggressive nor will it make us dominant if we were allowed to win the tug-o-war game once in a while. Those are just some ol' wives tales & my hoomies used to believe in that nonsense! BOL!!! Tug-o-war is a fun game & it's great exercise for us four-legged hairies.
Hoomie Melissa has taught us to "let go" of the object when she tells us to. We always do. We know our boundaries very well. Looked like you had a great tug-o-war game!
It takes more than a simple game of tug to cause aggression ... looks like you have things well under control!
For some reason I've never been into playing tug. Looks like fun.
Nubbin wiggles,
Oskar
I play tugs with my ropes dad made me..... but I lose interest WAY before anything becomes aggressive, in fact, I don't have an aggressive bone in my furry body! Tail Wuggles, Rubie.
That is yet another of those stupid dominance myths!! Just like you said, playing tug-o-war is fine as long as the human remains in control and sets rules about the game, such as the dog learning a release command and always lets go when told to do so. Also, no grabbing anything other than the tug toy. There was also a stupid myth saying that you must always win the game in order to prevent the dog thinking he's dominant - again, really misguided. Sure, the dog mustn't win ALL the time (which is why you need to train a release word) but it's no fun for the dog at all if he doesn't win SOME time. As long as you decide when the game starts and ends, it's a great way to release energy and bond too! Honey loves playing Tug and we play it all the time.
Hsin-Yi
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